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July 16, 2010

Napoleon Concerto By Mark Mellon Review

Alternate History is an area of fiction that is fraught with traps and pitfalls and many fail to do it well. The cover of Mark Mellon’s newest novel of alternate history from WhoooDoo Mysteries, a division of Treble Heart Books, features an illustration of Napoleon astride a white horse done in the style of the Napoleonic Period demonstrating a very good example of the genre. You don’t have to be a history major to enjoy the narrative of this story.

The story is an alternate version of history that is quite a good mix of actual characters from history mixed with fictional characters. Characters from history include Robert Fulton, Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine to name but a few. The historical characters are accurate in detail and personality, but massaged quite nicely into the story of how history could have been. The fictional characters are written just as accurately to people of the period and show not only the outward visible person, but also the internal dialogues of why they are how they are.

It is quite obvious that the author, Mark Mellon, has taken his time to make the details of his story accurate. From the engineering and science of the day, to the scenery of the locales, to the intricacies of the royal courts of France and England as well as the battle scenes all come together in detail to propel and draw the reader into the story.

The story is well written and has many twists along with accurate details that not only make it plausible, but a thoughtful study. What if Napoleon was not defeated at Waterloo? How would the world be different today? These and other questions jumped into my mind as I read the story.

Overall this is an excellent book and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a good read. Alternate history done well.